


Trying Times

by city_bright



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 07:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3373562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/city_bright/pseuds/city_bright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: AU where Mindy is dating someone new and all nervous because it's a special day and she turns to Danny for reassurance... But Danny has ulterior motives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trying Times

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Smapdi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smapdi/gifts).



> Oh goodness, I hope I did this prompt justice. This fic took a slight turn from the prompt, but I hope you still enjoy this jumbled mess :P

_Ahh, the week of Valentine’s Day, when women have an extra pep in their step, and men are heard scrambling to find last minute gifts. Or for single women like myself, ugh, the week you spend every night wallowing on your couch, drinking your third bottle of wine, and watching all the romantic comedies you c-_

With a hard nudge of his elbow, Danny knocked Mindy slightly off balance in the subway car.“Hey! What the hell, Danny?! That was very rude. You could have killed me!”

“I thought I told you not to narrate in front of me anymore. It’s embarrassing. People are gonna think I’m with a delusional patient.”

Before she could retort back, Mindy heard a low, smooth voice behind her. “Well, I, for one, thought it was very insightful.”

She turned around to find the source of the honey-like voice and found a man with the face of Michael Fassbender, the physique of Idris Elba, and the hair of Patrick Dempsey.

“Whoa,” Mindy murmured.

This dream boat of a man sweetly chuckled with twinkling, warm, dark brown eyes, and Mindy is pretty sure her underwear is no where to be found. Behind her, Danny stood a little taller, puffed his chest out a little more, grasped onto his newspaper a little too tightly, and scoffed, mumbling some mocking statements in his heavy Staten accent.

“Um, h-hi, I’m Mindy.” She extended her hand for a handshake, which the man accepted with, “Mindy? What a beautiful name. I’m Leo. Pleasure to meet you.”

“N-no, the pleasure is all mine.” Mindy gaped at him for a moment more before she shook her head. “Oh, my god, how rude of me. This is Danny, he’s my… co-worker, I guess. He’s not that important,” she said, with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Danny cleared his throat, “Hey, I’m Danny. Len, was it?”

Mindy groaned under her breath. “It’s Leo! Danny, pay attention!” she said with a smack to his shoulder.

“Mindy, I would love to get to know you better. Would you like to have dinner with me some time this week, say Valentine’s Day? It would be New York City’s loss not to have you walking its streets on Valentine’s Day.” She felt a blush creeping up her features, and she was eternally grateful for her dark complexion.

“Y-yeah, that’d be wonderful. I’d love that.” She slightly fumbled through her purse before procuring a business card.

“I’m looking forward to it, Dr. Mindy Lahiri.” When Leo got off at his stop, Danny didn’t waste any time telling Mindy what he thought of him. “Can you even _believe_ that guy? Coming over, interrupting us with his stupid height and his stupid hair a-and his ‘ey, look at me, I’m such a smooth talker.’”

“Danny,” she began playfully. “Are you jealous of the beautiful man because you know deep down that you’ll never be at tall as him?” She laughed at her own joke because she is just that damn funny. However, she quickly snapped out of it when it dawned on her that she would be going out with this man, this man whom she thought she didn’t deserve. Sure, she had the killer confidence of Beyoncé, but ...

“Danny?!” she frantically exclaimed, fisting his coat collar. “Danny, you _have_ to help me with this date. I can’t make a fool of myself again. He’s gonna think I’m _Real Housewives_ crazy, which I am, but he can’t know that on the first date! Oh, my god, what am I going to wear? I have to go shopping, get my hair done, and I only have a few days!”

He groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose in the hope that he could find the heart to say no, to tell her she’s on her own on this, but he can’t. This has been happening quite a bit lately, this need to be around her, to make her smile, to make her happy, to just be there. He tries not to think about it too much; it makes his head swim and his heart scared, scared of what it means, scared of where it might lead, scared of himself.

He sighed contently, but tried to mask it with irritation. “Okay.”

“Okay? Did you just say okay?”

“Yes,” he replied, slightly strangled.

Mindy threw her arms around his neck and held on tightly. “Danny, you are a lifesaver! I owe you big time. Thank you.”

He gave her a couple of pats on the back, adjusting to this strange yet familiar and warm contact. “You’re welcome.”

“Ugh, we have to get started as soon as possible, Danny! We have no time to waste, now come on!” She continued chattering away about the next few days, leading him through the crowded subway, and he happily followed her.

* * *

Mindy arrived at Danny’s apartment on February 13th for a run through dinner. He offered to set up a rehearsal dinner of sorts, which was odd to Mindy, because when has he ever willingly offered to help without her convincing him? Nonetheless, she took it without questions because when something as rare as this occurs, you take it.

A nervousness pooled in her stomach as she knocked on his door. She overheard some commotion on the other side of the door, a few expletives and giggled, allowing her a couple of seconds of relief. Danny finally opened the door, and she couldn’t believe her eyes. Candles lined almost every nook and cranny of his apartment, illuminating his apartment with a humming, romantic glow. On the dining room table, she spotted two candles flanking a purple orchid centerpiece. Danny stood in front of her in a suit and tie, with a childish smile. He looked so distinguished and unreserved. “So, what do you think?” He led her inside the apartment, and she was simply, beautifully, heartwarmingly overcome with emotion. Tears pricked at her eyes, making Danny’s apartment a giant orange blur.

She turned around to face him. “I can’t believe you did this.”

“Well, you wanted it to be a surprise.”

She smiled sweetly at him, walking over to him to give him a brief hug. “It’s beautiful. Thank you, Danny.”

“Yeah, it’s-uh-no problem. I mean, I know how much you like Leo, so…”

“Leo. Right.” She forgot about him.

“So, wine? Do you want some wine?”

“Yes! Wine. Wine would be great.” God, did she need some alcohol in her system. She’s getting warm, and she’s not sure if it’s entirely because of the candles. “So, what are we having for dinner?”

“I think you’re going to like it! I made bruschetta for the appetizer, herb grilled chicken, bacon and Brussels sprouts, and mashed potatoes for the entrée, and for dessert, coffee and lemon granita, which is this sorbet, Italian ice type dessert. It’s like eating a snow cone, but better.”

“You made all of that?!”

“Um, yeah. Since you insisted we leave work early, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands.”

“But we only left work two hours early. How could you have finished making dinner and decorating your apartment in...4 hours?!”

“Well, I-uh-had some the food made ahead of time, so I really just cooked the chicken, mashed the potatoes, and made the bruschetta. And as for the candles, I already have those for, you know, blackouts and all. Picked up a couple more after work. It was nothing.”

He set down the plate of bruschetta and took a seat across from her. “So, do you always interrogate your dates about all the planning that goes into things like this?” He soundly bit down on the piece of toast and smirked at her.

“No,” she replied stubbornly. “There just…hasn’t been the opportunity _to_ ask.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. That was insensitive.”

“No, no, you didn’t know. It’s fine. This is really delicious, by the way. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He watched her chew quietly with her eyes down. “Mindy, just so you know, I think you should always… have the opportunity to ask. You deserve at least that much.”

“I guess.”

“No, Mindy, you do. I know that we don’t always see eye to eye and we fight, but I...you’re a good person. You deserve to be happy. You deserve someone who does these kinds of things for you and _wants_ to do them for you.”

“Thanks, Danny. You’re a good friend.”

They continued dinner, and everything shifted. Mindy wasn’t sure if it was the wine, but Danny had become less guarded as the evening progressed. She saw the wall he built around him crumble slowly. When he laughed, she saw a happiness and an adoration in his eyes she had never seen before. It scared her because she didn’t know this Danny even existed and how long it would stay, but it excited her, and she was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. She wanted him like this always - unguarded, happy, _free_.

When the time came to say goodbye, she thanked him for helping her with her date with Leo. She lingered at the doorway for as long as was socially acceptable because she didn’t want to leave this newfound comfort. She was scared that if she did, it wouldn’t come back, but as it turns out, it had already left. Perhaps, only partially, but she knew. She saw the guard up once again mixed with struggle and restraint. She knew that the Danny she saw tonight is in there somewhere. It just broke her heart that he fought so hard to keep it hidden.

* * *

Dinner with Leo came as quickly as it had went. Dinner was disappointing, and Leo was rude. He felt cold, unfamiliar, everything Danny wasn’t. Mindy didn’t catch this the first time, and maybe she chose to ignore it, she doesn’t know, but she saw how he looked at her: like a prize, like something to be won, like a piece of meat. She went home as soon as she could, and she did what she felt like she was destined to do for the rest of her life: wallow on her couch, drink more wine than what is healthy, and watch all the romantic comedies she could stomach.

Then, she got frustrated. Frustrated at Danny, for putting up walls after showing her who he could really be, angry at him for thinking that he could shut her out like that.

“DANNY! DANIEL CASTELLANO, I HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU,” she yelled as she made quick, hard knocks on his door.

“Jesus, Min, could you quiet down? You’re gonna m-,” he stopped mid-sentence when he opened the door to see her slightly disheveled. “Mindy, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“You! That’s what’s wrong.”

“Me? What are you saying? Isn’t your date with Leo tonight?”

“It was, but he was a total ass.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I know you liked him a lot.”

“Yeah, I did, and then you had to go ruin it, didn’t you?”

“ _I_ ruined it? What are you talking about?” Mindy fell silent. “Mindy, please help me understand.”

“It’s just…Everything was going fine! I was happy, or relatively happy, and then…” She turned her gaze away from him. “And then, last night, something changed.”

“Changed?” He saw her glistening chin, and he ached to reach out to her, to touch her, to comfort her. He took a step forward.

“No, don’t. Just let me say what I have to say. This is going to sound crazy, I know, but I felt… something. I saw a side of you that I’ve never seen before. You looked at me so happily, and I felt safe. It felt like home. I felt it. And then when I left, it was gone, and I just knew you shut me out from-from whatever that was, and I hated it so much. I hated seeing you deny and torture yourself like that, like it was so painful to be happy.

“And then you said all these great things about me, about how I deserve someone who wants me, who wants to make me happy, and then I realized it was you. You did everything for me last night, and even though it was slightly out of obligation because of this whole Leo mess, you went out of your way to do all of that because you thought I would love it. And now...What’s going on, Danny?”

“I don’t know,” he lamely shrugged.

“I’m not buying it. I think you do know, but you don’t want to face it because you’re scared. Why are you so scared to let yourself be _happy_?”

“Because it never lasts!”

“What?”

He sighed heavily. “It never lasts, Mindy, okay? I’ve been happy before and then something always happens. My dad left my mom, Richie and me, and then Christina left me. Everyone always leaves. “

“I haven’t left. And I’m not going to. You’re my friend, Danny.”

“But how do I know that? How do _you_ know that for sure? How do either of us know that you won’t find me impossible and leave because you can’t stand me anymore?”

Mindy chuckled. “Well, too late for that because I already think you’re impossible and unbearable, Danny. But I’m still here.”

“I like you, Mindy, a lot, and I don’t want to ruin it. I can be a closed off jerk and say things I don’t mean and push you away.”

“Well…How about this? Call me when you’re ready, when you’re not struggling with yourself so much. When you’re ready to let some of it go and let yourself be happy, call me, okay? Because I can’t fix you. Only you can do that for yourself.”

He nodded with a hopeful sigh. “I will.”


End file.
